Written Answers Wednesday 30 March 2005

Scottish Executive

Cities

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers Perth to be a city.

Mr Tom McCabe: The Scottish Executive has no functions in relation to city status.

Civil Servants

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost of the early retirement scheme for civil servants was in each of its departments and agencies in (a) 1997-98, (b) 1998-99, (c) 1999-2000, (d) 2000-01, (e) 2001-02, (f) 2002-03 and (g) 2003-04 and what the estimated cost is for (h) 2004-05, (i) 2005-06, (j) 2006-07 and (k) 2007-08.

Mr Tom McCabe: Department
Early Retirement Costs


1997-98
1998-99
1999-2000
2000-01
2001-02


Scottish Office/Scottish Executive
217,612
686,898
1,554,361
2,710,776
1,858,516


General Register Office for Scotland
N/A
N/A
N/A
23,021
23,408


Scottish Record Office/National Archives Scotland
N/A
23,385
55,481
64,055
64,408


Royal Commission on the Ancient Monuments of Scotland
N/A
N/A
N/A
40,899
17,756


Scottish Agricultural Science Agency
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A


Student Awards Agency for Scotland
N/A
N/A
N/A
18,417
9,035


Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A


Total Costs
217,612
710,283
1,609,842
2,857,168
1,973,123



  

Department
Estimated Early Retirement Costs


2002-03
2003-04
2004-05
2005-06
2006-07
2007-08


Scottish Office/
Scottish Executive
3,136,535
2,930,242
3,665,952
2,000,000
2,000,000
1,500,000


General Register Office for Scotland
15,655
116,277
75,233
50,000
50,000
50,000


Scottish Record Office/National Archives Scotland
66,915
44,216
37,383
50,000
50,000
50,000


Royal Commission on the Ancient Monuments of Scotland
17,756
18,368
18,996
19,000
19,000
19,000


Scottish Agricultural Science Agency
25,192
47,513
106,377
75,000
75,000
75,000


Student Awards Agency for Scotland
9,112
9,342
9,598
10,000
10,000
10,000


Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency
16,838
17,122
125,493
60,000
60,000
60,000


Total Costs
3,288,003
3,183,080
5,639,032
2,264,000
2,264,000
1,764,000

Concessionary Travel

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of the consequential funding under the Barnett formula of the decision announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Budget 2005 to subsidise free local bus travel for pensioners for each of the next three financial years.

Mr Tom McCabe: The increases to the Scottish budget as a result of the allocations announced by the Chancellor in Budget 2005 to support free off-peak local area bus travel for those aged over 60 and disabled people in England from April 2006 are as follows: £35.7 million in 2006-07 and £37.485 million in 2007-08.

Education

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many instances of truancy have been recorded in each of the last 10 years in (a) Scotland and (b) each local authority area.

Peter Peacock: This information was not collected prior to 2003-04. Data for 2003-04 is given in the following table.

  

 
Half Days Absence Due to Truancy1


Aberdeen City
88,103


Aberdeenshire
53,788


Angus
64,317


Argyll and Bute
12,136


Clackmannanshire
38,251


Dumfries and Galloway
47,470


Dundee City
10,494


East Ayrshire
17,019


East Dunbartonshire
8,129


East Lothian
55,114


East Renfrewshire
5,054


Edinburgh, City of
250,287


Eilean Siar
4,686


Falkirk
142,571


Fife
172,586


Glasgow City
152,008


Highland
71,133


Inverclyde
8,558


Midlothian
15,473


Moray
35,857


North Ayrshire
36,448


North Lanarkshire
81,035


Orkney Islands
11,935


Perth and Kinross
84,433


Renfrewshire
21,689


Scottish Borders
38,967


Shetland Islands
2,342


South Ayrshire
120,995


South Lanarkshire
33,899


Stirling
22,550


West Dunbartonshire
16,245


West Lothian
55,372


Grant aided
21


Scotland
1,778,965



  Note: 1. Data does not include grant aided special schools.

Fatal Accident Inquiries

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive which part of its budget funds fatal accident inquiries.

Mr Tom McCabe: The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service budget funds fatal accident inquiries.

Finance

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the percentage of total government spending in Scotland that its block grant (a) constituted in each year since 1999 and (b) will constitute in the next five years.

Mr Tom McCabe: Such information as is available is published in the Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses (PESA) produced by HM Treasury and available on their website at:

  http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/economic_data_and_tools/ finance_spending_statistics/pes_publications/pespub_index.cfm.

  This gives details of total government spending in Scotland. The most recent in the series, PESA 2004, contains data up to 2002-03. Details on the size of the block grant are available, for example, in our own budget publications, in the Scotland Office Annual Report, and in various Treasury publications.

  In 2002-03, the most recent year for which both pieces of information are available, total identifiable government spending in Scotland was around £33.25 billion, of which the block grant comprised around £18 billion, or 54%.

Renewable Energy

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what expert opinions it has relied on to inform its position that wind power is significantly effective in reducing CO 2 emissions.

Mr Jim Wallace: Our policy is to support the development of a wide range of renewable technologies. Use of these technologies, including wind power, and where they replace fossil fuel generation, will help reduce CO 2 emissions.

  A report commissioned by the DTI from ILEX Consulting, in association with Professor Gorban Strbac from the University of Manchester, entitled "Quantifying The System Costs Of Additional Renewables In 2020", found that any additional fossil fuel reserve capacity needed to balance an increase in intermittent renewables connecting to the grid would not be on a megawatt for megawatt basis. The reserve capacity will be less than the renewables capacity, meaning that overall emissions will be reduced.

  Similarly, the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology Fourth Report (2004) found that "the notion that wind power needs 100 percent back-up does not stand up to analysis" (Chapter 7, paragraph 5). The report notes that this was confirmed by the grid system operator, National Grid Transco.

Scottish Executive Advertising

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the effectiveness of its advertising campaigns in terms of achieving their objectives and value for money.

Mr Tom McCabe: Executive advertising campaigns are measured in a number of ways to ensure that they meet their objectives and obtain value for money. This includes research into levels of awareness, changes in attitude and changes in behaviour. Levels of response to campaigns are also measured. These include the number of calls to help and advice lines, the number of requests for information, levels of traffic on websites, the number of text responses, and the number of people accessing services such as flu vaccination. Creative research also tells us about the effectiveness of different forms of communication and allows us to fine-tune our advertising for best effect.

  We also achieve coverage in the media via our marketing work and this is measured to show a return on investment.

  All of these methods allow us to closely monitor the outcomes of our work. The findings are used to inform future campaign strategies and methods of communication to help ensure that we met the targets set for both effectiveness and value for money.

Waste Management

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many waste operators not on the Register of Waste Carriers have been detected on Scottish roads since the register’s inception and, of these, what proportion has been from (a) Northern Ireland, (b) the Republic of Ireland and (c) other European Countries.

Ross Finnie: The information requested is not held centrally.

Waste Management

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Register of Waste Carriers is maintained on a UK-wide basis.

Ross Finnie: There are separate registers for Great Britain, and for Northern Ireland.

Waste Management

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the drivers of vehicles travelling not on the Register of Waste Carriers retain a duty of care for the waste they transport.

Ross Finnie: The duty of care in Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 applies to all who import, produce, carry, keep, treat or dispose of controlled waste.